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Günther Jäger
Robert Hauptmann, better known by his ring name Günther Jäger, is a German professional wrestler best known for his tenure in the American promotion Pro Wrestling: Titans. He has had previous stints in various European wrestling companies and, recently, had a short run with the UAE-based Elite Wrestling International. Jäger is a feared competitor the world over, having held at least eight world championships during his twenty year career, as well as a tag team title in EWI. However, Hauptmann is also a renowned singer- with his professional wrestling career currently at a standstill, his vocal talents have been increasingly demanded. Early life Born in Bochum on January 28, 1972 to parents Dieter and Barbara, the young Hauptmann was quickly identified as a sporting protégé due to the rapid growth spurt he enjoyed (or suffered) during his adolescence. However, Hauptmann was unable to fulfil his father’s desire that he should become a soccer player- he simply had no skill on the ball and his height further disadvantaged the young man. Hauptmann instead turned to music as an extra-curricular activity, taking a role in his local choir- but again, here, he was shunned for his almost monstrous height. In later interviews, Hauptmann has claimed that his education was almost ruined because his teachers presumed that he “was a meat-head, a jock” and didn’t consequently give him the attention that he craved. Somehow, nevertheless, he got through his education having acquired reasonable grades, but Hauptmann was “lost in life.” Turn-around 1989 was an important year for both Germany and Robert Hauptmann’s future- the destruction of the Berlin Wall officially reunited the divided East and West, and saw mass migration across the area. One such family was the Holsteins, headed by amateur wrestling coach Fritz. Having failed to produce any gold medallists for the East German wrestling team at successive Olympic Games, Fritz was desperate to make something of his career- so naturally when he caught glimpse of the young Hauptmann, he saw his meal ticket. Hauptmann was given training in amateur wrestling, but very quickly, this monstrous young man, who at the age of 18 stood at seven foot was noticed by other organisations- most connected to professional wrestling. Hauptmann reciprocated the interest shown in him by quickly signing on with a German federation- the spectacle of professional wrestling appealed to Hauptmann, as he “felt the same emotions when watching a match, as I do whenever I go to the opera...it’s a classic story of good versus evil.” The good-looking giant initially wrestled as a blue-eyed babyface in his native homeland, but soon other federations across the world would come calling. Europe At first, Hauptmann’s services were to be coveted across Europe- his first major tour was of the United Kingdom as a major attraction of one of the few remaining wrestling companies that weren’t killed off by the cessation of World of Sport’s wrestling programme. It was when wrestling here that that Hauptmann was given a new ring name: Günther Jäger. Jäger is the German word for ‘hunter’. The reason given for this change was because the promoter responsible believed (correctly) that he could make more money from Hauptmann if he was a heel, a classic one whose ‘Aryan’ features made him the bad guy that Brits plain hated. The name stuck: Jäger began wrestling in France, Italy and Holland under this new nom de guerre and in the process, his stock shot up faster than Eric Cantona’s in world soccer. It is believed that on one of his numerous tours during the later 1990s, Jäger took on the wrestler who would go on to become Tom Fury, soon to be known in his own right as a household name. Nevertheless, Jäger’s success would come a lot sooner. Pro Wrestling: Titans In June 2001, Günther Jäger officially wrestled his last match in Europe, against Mattia Zanetti in front of 60,000 people at the San Siro in Milan. After that, he flew to America to join the fledgling American promotion emanating from Texas, colloquially known as PW:T. There, the Jäger character was given a new breath of fresh air by bookers- despite Hauptmann’s initial reservations the character’s heritage was built up, making Jäger into something of a wannabe Nazi. Hauptmann, like all Germans, wished to move away from the country’s dark past, finding his then role somewhat “disconcerting.” However, Hauptmann began to see the possibilities and began to tweak Jäger’s image, when controversy started to erupt around the promotion- firstly, Jäger’s hometown was re-assigned to Vienna, Austria, and Jäger gradually became more of a megalomaniacal tyrant with a love for classical music- just like the real life Robert Hauptmann. By the time of the final closure of PW:T in 2008, Jäger was vastly detached from the original conception back in 2001. First Success Jäger’s early appearances consisted of him demolishing jobbers in various gruesome forms, before issuing a challenge to the reigning PW:T Heavyweight champion, the legendary Caesar Presas. Within a year of his debut, Jäger had become the bona fide number one contender, after running rough-shod through the PW:T roster: some veterans were retired by Jäger’s devastating power-bombs. Jäger finally became a champion on American soil on July 4, 2002, ending Presas’ third reign as champion after three Jäger Bombs. Trouble Ahead Immediately, Jäger was invited to Japan where he fought as a gaijin on various tours against nationally renowned wrestlers. However, his success did not last- behind the scenes at PW:T, Presas manipulated the booking to retain his place atop the promotion- even if Jäger was wrestling a mid-carder like Mike Davies, Presas would headline the show against the Endboss Seth Roth, although Roth was never as despised as Jäger was by PW:T fans: it was only a matter of time that Presas would take ‘his’ belt back. March 18, 2003 was both a devastating day for Saddam Hussein and Jäger- Hussein’s country was finally attacked by an American-led coalition and Jäger lost his World title back to Presas. Jäger was further undermined when his gimmick was altered to reflect the dual obsession with France and Iraq. His new sidekicks, Jacques la Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey and Hassan caused so much uproar that the stable ‘The Axis of Evil’ made Jäger the biggest heel in the country, let alone PW:T! Injury Jäger’s notoriety came to an untimely end in December, however, when Saddam was captured and also, in a match before Christmas against Bobby Banks, Jäger suffered a torn triceps when attempting a top-rope manoeuvre. The injury put him out for a whole year, during which time, other renowned heels came into the promotion and usurped Jäger in the eyes of the fans. Whilst recovering, however, Hauptmann met his future wife, Nicola Whitelaw. She is credited with having helped him on the way to recovery after an excruciatingly painful operation to repair his damaged muscle tissue. The two were married in June 2005, a short time after Jäger had returned to competitive action. Because of the changes to the PW:T roster since Jäger’s enforced departure, his return to the promotion was not as dramatic as Hauptmann would have hoped- Presas’ continued death-grip on the PW:T World title meant that three consecutive attempts to wrest that title from Presas ended in miserable failure. Jäger suffered a further embarrassing loss in June ’06, to a former stable mate, the newly re-named Jacques le Coq, the Frenchman whose outfit resembled a cockerel. Early Crisis 2007 It was believed that on the verge of the buyout of PW:T by a mystery consortium in January 2007 that Jäger was on the verge of walking out of his ten-year contract with the company due to his unhappiness with the way his character had been treated over the last several years- from Hauptmann’s point of view, with each new loss, the Jäger character had become a mid-card freak side-show instead of the dominating force that Jäger had been when he first joined the promotion. In part, he blamed Caesar Presas for this state of affairs and was privately said to be delighted when his retirement was announced. Unfortunately for Jäger, initially, he was again not featured in the company’s plans for the top of the card- in a tournament to crown a new World Champion, he was eliminated by the young rising star, Ace Matthews in the first round. Scarlazzo puts his faith in Jäger Jäger was again close to leaving the promotion when Mr. Matthews was replaced as PW:T boss by Bruno Scarlazzo, who saw great potential in Jäger. Due to roster upheavals, Jäger found himself made a much bigger part of the PW:T show than in previous years- re-inserted into the World title tournament, Jäger was booked to go over HIW legend Arlen Emerson- in the process, however, he went over another former HIW stalwart, one Seth Hudson. The Coalition In this time period, another stable was created around Jäger. The Coalition comprised Jäger at the head, with Seth Roth an apparent lieutenant and Duane Sanderson the work-rate monkey of the trio. Scarlazzo booked the Coalition against himself, in a reversal of previous heel boss vs. face wrestler scenarios, to great acclamation. In the storyline, Jäger’s primary aim was to take over PW:T to suit his and his allies’ needs. Increasingly, Jäger’s character became more and more extreme in his outlook- the Monster was willing to go to any lengths- inside and outside the ring- to get the job done. Even in this period, however, Jäger failed to get his hands on the World title, losing narrowly in the final of the tournament to the up-and-coming Rahim James and then failing to prevent the Japanese wrestler Tanaka from wresting the gold from ‘R-Dot.’ Jäger, Triumphant Once Again With the forced closure of PW:T due to several laws being broken in a street fight between Rahim James and Seth Roth, Jäger was in fact in a grand position- the last match of the promotion for some six months was Jäger in his epic, never-repeated match against the Thai Monster Kahn which only ended when the ring collapsed. Furthermore, he was undisputed head of the Coalition after ejecting Roth in an impressive demolition of the Endboss. Paired with Ace Matthews, Jäger renewed his charge towards the World title when the federation opened in January 2008. In fact, within two shows of the return, Jäger had yet again won the belt, defeating the incumbent Tanaka. In kay-fabe, Tanaka broke his leg whilst trying to suplex Jäger. The Austrian enjoyed several defences of his title, before the promotion again lost its internet television rights due to a lack of financial resources. PW:T, however, did continue promoting live events- Jäger was thrust into a feud with Johnny Hollywood and the two traded the PW:T world belt well in the fall of ’08, despite falling interest in the company. The death knell for Pro Wrestling: Titans came when stars such as Evan Jackson, Kahn and Ace Matthews left the promotion to pursue careers in a new company. EWI 2009 In mid-2009, the long held dream of Sheik Haroon to create a wrestling federation was finally realised with the creation of EWI. Rave reviews of the promotion’s early content encouraged Haroon to extend his company’s reach into the global wrestling market. However, he was also persuaded by his cronies that EWI lacked a legitimate champion- Haroon decided to finally pull the plug on PW:T, currently on a life support machine, by asking Jäger to join his promotion, and bringing his title along with him. After much soul-searching, Jäger agreed, and took an apartment in the capital city of the UAE. However, the Monster was soon to be disappointed by his experience in EWI. In interviews, he has stated that he believed Haroon had told him that he would definitely be facing the EWI World Champion, Drew Debs, in a Title Unification match which was to headline the extravagant two day long show Wrestlefest. The reality, though, was very different: Jäger never made the cut for this main event, losing the PW:T World title to British EWI star Milo Gallant on the first day of Wrestlefest, then losing a rematch on the second day. Unexpected Change in Direction He was instead inserted into a ladder match for the EWI tag team titles as the mystery partner for his former PW:T ally Ace Matthews, recreating the old Coalition team under the name of ‘The Sect.’ The Sect were successful at gaining the tag titles in their first outing and did defend the titles on several occasions. However, it is suggested that they lost their belts to the team of Ghalib and Criss Nomak due to increasingly sloppy performances by Jäger. Claiming homesickness, unhappiness both at being separated from his family who had remained in the United States and at the booking which appeared to have relegated Jäger, he handed in a request for his release in November, just three months after joining EWI. In that time, he had lost the one possession that still gave him clout in the wrestling world (the PW:T belt), and ground to his former PW:T rivals, Kahn and Ace Matthews. It was Kahn’s demolition of him on an episode of EWI Overdrive that saw Jäger depart the promotion. Upon leaving EWI, it was rumoured that Hauptmann was considering legal action against Haroon concerning the treatment of the PW:T World title. In a recent interview, Hauptmann stated that for now he was retired from the ring- instead he is concentrating on his music career. Other ventures Outside of professional wrestling, Robert Hauptmann has pursued his other interests- especially his musical career. During the 1990s, Hauptmann was part of a German rock group whose sound was loosely based on bands such as Neu!, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk. However, despite Hauptmann’s public persona being so popular, the band could not follow suit. During his tenures away from the ring, Hauptmann attempted to gain popularity through singing- before PW:T returned in 2008, a European tour was mooted which would have featured Hauptmann as the main attraction. Hauptmann’s fascination with music was played in with his wrestling character- in 2007, an album of songs recorded by Hauptmann in the guise of Günther Jäger called ‘Günther Sings!’ was released. Unfortunately, critics parried the album with vehemence- a Pitchfork reviewer gave the album 0.01 out of 10. Hauptmann has laughed this off, saying that Günther Sings was supposed to be “a joke.” In early January 2010, it was reported that Hauptmann was approached by German television executives who were considering a role for him as judge on the Germany version of the hit British show Britain’s Got Talent. Sources suggest that Hauptmann would join Claudia Schiffer and Ralf Hutter of Kraftwerk on the judging panel of ‘Germany’s Got Talent!’ but these are unconfirmed. Personal life Hauptmann currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife Nicola. Their two children, Max and Anna-Marie are respectively five and three years old. It should be noted that Nicola has never been featured on wrestling television- segments involving Günther Jäger’s family, which included six children whose names began with the letter ‘h’, were used hired actors to make up the Jäger family. Little other information is known about Hauptmann’s family. In Wrestling Wrestling Style: Very much the traditional, monstrous big man style wrestler, Günther Jäger employs route-one brutality combined with some painful looking technical manoeuvres. Jäger regularly struggles in the ring to combat fast opponents due to his size. Finishing Moves: ''' Jäger Bomb Powerbomb Götterdämmerung Screwdriver from the top rope The Hunter’s Grasp Bearhug Todestag (Death’s Day) Piledriver '''Signature Moves: Bavarian Back Breaker Slam Austrian Suplex Chokeslam Viennese Whirl Nicknames: The Hunter The Monster The Butcher of Vienna Der Fuhrer 'Theme Music: ' ‘Invocation’ by Killing Joke part of the Sect ‘Trauermarch’ (’Funeral March’) by Wagner in EWI and PW:T ‘March from Things to Come’ by the Geoff Love Orchestra PW:T ‘Theme’ by Public Image Limited in English federations Notable Championships Held PW:T World Heavyweight Title (x 4) EWI Tag Team Titles (with Ace Matthews)